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Scolari - the view from Brazil

Portugal boss Luiz Felipe Scolari will touch down in England after Euro 2008 to take over as Chelsea boss on 1 July.

Scolari is Roman Abramovich's fourth managerial appointment

The Brazilian, who has twice been coveted by the Football Association to become the England boss, won the 2002 World Cup with Brazil and led Portugal to the final of Euro 2004.

But what type of coach is the man who is set to become the fourth manager of owner Roman Abramovich's reign?

BBC Sport spoke to journalists who have spent time covering Scolari's successes.

Tim Vickery
South American football reporter

"Scolari is a very plain-speaking man.

"I remember back in 1999 he told me that he sends him teams out to deliberately commit fouls - he feels that the occasional foul is part of the game and a legitimate strategy to employ to stop a team's attack.

"He was remarkably open about it. He said everyone does it but he is the only person who says so.

"I wonder if he will be able to deal with the intrusive monster that is the English tabloid press.

"He does burn quite a short fuse, and in the recent qualifiers for Euro 2008 he struck a Serbian player on the field after the game, and he also struck a fan back in Brazil when he was coach of the Brazil national team.

"So it will be very interesting to see how he copes in this new environment of pressure that he is in.

"And Scolari is not the most cosmopolitan of characters, which is why it is so it is fascinating to think of him swaggering down the Kings Road."

Fernando Duiarte
European football correspondent for Brazilian newspaper O Globo

"He's the kind of guy who gets involved. He fires people up and I think that is good for those working with him.

"He manages to unite players. When he took over the Brazilian team in 2001 the team was a sinking ship. We almost didn't qualify for the World Cup but he managed to get all those players, including stars like Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos, working for the same goal.

"It remains to be seen whether he will succeed at Chelsea but I know he will get the respect of the players. He tends to be the shield for the team.

"If the team loses then he will take the blame and that kind of attitude wins respect from the players. Some players even see him as a father figure for the way he takes everybody under his wing.

"Chelsea is a different club, in a different country, but I don't think it's as daring an appointment as some commentators say because football is a global game now.

"(Former Chelsea boss) Jose Mourinho speaks better English, but it shouldn't be a surprise that a very competent Brazilian manager should be plying his trade in England."

Asdrubal Figueiro
BBC World Service in Sao Paulo

"If Chelsea signed Scolari with an eye on the elusive Champions League trophy then they have taken a step in the right direction.

"But if what the club is looking for is beautiful football then Chelsea may have picked him for the wrong reasons.

"A former defender in lower-league teams from the south of Brazil, Scolari built his local reputation as a coach who got the results no matter what.

"And that would normally mean winning 1-0 at home, doing everything to draw 0-0 away and playing ugly if necessary. Most of the time it was.

"As Gremio's manager in the mid-90s, what the local press would portray as dirty tactics and efficiency earned him the nickname 'the king of the play-offs'.

"At that time, the main rivalry in Brazilian football was between the beast of Scolari's Gremio and the beauty of Vanderlei Luxemburgo's Palmeiras yet the results speak for themselves and no-one would question Scolari's competence.

"Of course, the Scolari that the world knows is the coach of the Brazilian 2002 World Cup squad, a team which could be accused of anything but playing ugly.

"For most Brazil fans, the relatively open football shown by the national squad in Japan and South Korea was a welcome surprise, but many believed it had more to do with the quality of the players in the team (Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Juninho) rather than the coach's tactics."

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